U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer talks about the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan in North Palm Springs in 2014.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

Radio host Glenn Beck

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin addresses the crowd after being introduced by Doug Manchester, left, at a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Friday, May 27, 2016, in San Diego.

Having worked for more than three decades as a tour manager or production designer for Kanye West, Annie Lennox and everyone in between, Simon Sidi knows what a rock concert sounds like.

It was the same reaction he got when watching a live taping of “Political Gabfest,” a podcast for the online magazine Slate.

The reaction — they were discussing a Supreme Court decision, he thinks — inspired Sidi, a native of Britain, to create Politicon, a convention billed as the Comic-con of politics. The second-ever Politicon takes place Saturday and Sunday, June 25 and 26 at the Pasadena Convention Center.

Think Campaign-Chella. Imagine rooms full of people paying to immerse themselves in all things partisan and polarized. And they’re especially amped up this year, with the ever-more-volatile November presidential election drawing nearer.

For some, those folks who reach for the dial when they come into the room to tune in anything but CNN, this would be misery. For an increasing number of Americans, it’s bliss.

Politicon is unique not only in its approach to politics, but who’s in the lineup. Conservative icons like Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck will share the same buildings and sometimes the same stage as outspoken liberals like Cenk Uygur and Democratic talking heads like James Carville and Paul Begala.

Throw in high-profile politicians — California Sen. Barbara Boxer, former Mexican President Vicente Fox and a possible Hillary Clinton running mate are scheduled to attend — artwork displays, live podcast tapings, comedic performances, film screenings and book signings and you get a non-partisan event intended to be a political junkie’s nirvana.

“You can watch all these people on Fox News or CNN,” Sidi said. “But you’re going to see them in real life.”

“This is for the people who can’t stop watching Fox or CNN or MSNBC,” he added. “They’re noodling around on The Huffington Post or The Daily Beast. They read a newspaper every day.”

“I love the give-and-take of conferences like this,” saidJohn Berry, a cabinet member of the Redlands Tea Party Patriots.

He won’t be able to go due to prior commitments, but he said he was “salivating” as he looked at the lineup.

“It’s really for the inside crowd but God, I’d go to it if I could.”

‘DEMOCRACY ON STEROIDS’

The first Politicon took place last October at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Among the highlights was an act that fooled people into thinking that famed National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden had returned to American soil from his Russian exile to attend the convention.

About 9,500 people attended the first Politicon. Organizers said the event moved to Pasadena because the LA center was booked.

This weekend’s event starts both days with DJs. Former New Mexico governor and 2016 Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson will give the introduction.

From there, Politicon splits into a series of events, some more serious than others. While gun control and abortion will be discussed and there’s a panel called “Is Donald Trump a Psychopath?”, there’s also “The Lady Parts Justice Comedy Troupe” and a focus group promoted as “democracy on steroids – the good kind.”

If you ever wanted to see Trump and Bernie Sanders debate, you’re in luck, sort of. Actors portraying the two candidates will debate the issues.

Some events feature showdowns between political opposites. Coulter, known for her provocative comments on minorities, liberals and well, a lot of things, will debate former Obama White House official and environmental activist Van Jones in “Ann Coulter vs. Van Jones.”

Palin, a former Alaska governor and the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate, will be interviewed by Carville, who was Bill Clinton’s chief political strategist. And if you want to meet the founding fathers, they’ve “time traveled” to Politicon.

Want to know how to get to Mars? Scientist and TV personality Bill Nye will be part of a panel on the subject.

Fox, who’s not shy about voicing his contempt for Trump, will take part in a conversation that includes “The Daily Show” contributor Al Madrigal.

Adding to the political intrigue was an announcement Wednesday, June 20, that Julian Castro, the Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary rumored to be on the short list for Clinton’s vice presidential pick, would join Fox in a Sunday evening panel.

Both evenings end with comedy hours. Sunday’s features “Saturday Night Live” veterans Darrell Hammond and Jay Pharoah, known for their impressions of Bill Clinton and Ben Carson, respectively.

All this will take place in rooms renamed for the occasion. There’s “Liberty Hall,” “The Washington Room” and “K Street Lobby,” among others.

“IT ALL DEPENDS”

Uygur, host of the left-of-center online commentary series “The Young Turks,” will debate conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza. In a telephone interview, Uygur said it’s uncommon for political opposites to be in the same room for events like this.

“That exchange of ideas is wonderful and hopefully fruitful,” he said. “Even if it’s an exchange that’s a little bit more aggressive … it’s still better than a five-minute talking point contest. It’s an hour long and by the end of the hour the audience gets to know that’s where he stands and that’s where she stands and that’s where I stand.”

When you get left and right together, “It could be heated argument. It could be raucous laughter,” Sidi said. “It all depends.”

David Barrett, a political science professor at Villanova University, said American politics has long had a spectator-sport element to it. When Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas sparred in the 1858 Senate campaign, “there was serious debate going on,” he said. “But there was also a lot of making points for the crowd (and) a lot of crowd reaction — boos, cheers and laughter.”

While entertainment is a goal of Politicon, “I think I want people to take away the fact that people can have conversations,” Sidi said. “They might disagree politically. But at least they can talk about it.”

Jeff Horseman got into journalism because he liked to write and stunk at math. He grew up in Vermont and he honed his interviewing skills as a supermarket cashier by asking Bernie Sanders “Paper or plastic?” After graduating from Syracuse University in 1999, Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at The Watertown Daily Times in upstate New York, where he impressed then-U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Clinton so much she called him “John” at the end of an interview. From there, he went to Annapolis, Maryland, where he covered city, county and state government at The Capital newspaper before love and the quest for snowless winters took him in 2007 to Southern California, where he started out covering Temecula for The Press-Enterprise. Today, Jeff writes about Riverside County government and regional politics. Along the way, Jeff has covered wildfires, a tropical storm, 9/11 and the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino. If you have a question or story idea about politics or the inner workings of government, please let Jeff know. He’ll do his best to answer, even if it involves a little math.